Hobbled Danes fall short

Shorthanded squad takes tough Vermont team down to last second

Tim Wilki, Times Union

By Tim Wilkin

Published 11:22 pm, Wednesday, February 15, 2012

UAlbany's Jayson Guerrier is guarded by Luke Apfeld of Vermont as he drives to the basket during a basketball game at SEFCU arena on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012 in Albany, N.Y. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

UAlbany's Jayson Guerrier is guarded by Luke Apfeld of Vermont as...

UAlbany's Blake Metcalf shoots a jump shot during a basketball game against Vermont at SEFCU arena on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012 in Albany, N.Y. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

UAlbany's Mike Black hands off the ball during a basketball game against Vermont at SEFCU arena on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012 in Albany, N.Y. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

UAlbany's Mike Black hands off the ball during a basketball game...

UAlbany's Logan Aronhalt dribbles the ball between his legs just before getting the ball stolen by Josh Elbaum of Vermont during a basketball game at SEFCU arena on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012 in Albany, N.Y. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

UAlbany's Logan Aronhalt dribbles the ball between his legs just...

UAlbany's Blake Metcalf is guarded by Pat Bergmann of Vermont during a basketball game at SEFCU arena on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012 in Albany, N.Y. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

UAlbany's Blake Metcalf is guarded by Pat Bergmann of Vermont...

UAlbany's Mike Black is guarded by Josh Elbaum of Vermont as he drives to the basket during a basketball game at SEFCU arena on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012 in Albany, N.Y. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

UAlbany's Mike Black is guarded by Josh Elbaum of Vermont as he...

UAlbany's Mike Black is guarded by Matt Glass of Vermont as he drives to the basket during a basketball game at SEFCU arena on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012 in Albany, N.Y. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

UAlbany's Mike Black is guarded by Matt Glass of Vermont as he...

UAlbany's Mike Black is fouled by Matt Glass of Vermont as he drives to the basket during a basketball game at SEFCU arena on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012 in Albany, N.Y. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

UAlbany's Mike Black is fouled by Matt Glass of Vermont as he...

UAlbany's Jayson Guerrier is guarded by Four McGlynn of Vermont as he drives to the basket during a basketball game at SEFCU arena on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012 in Albany, N.Y. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

ALBANY — Before this game was even played, you would have thought the University at Albany was going to get beat by 50 Wednesday night.

The tale of the tape didn't favor the Great Danes at all.

First, UAlbany was playing Vermont, which, right now, is the best team in the America East with nine straight wins.

The leading scorer for the Danes, Gerardo Suero, was home under the covers with a case of shingles. The second leading scorer for UAlbany, Logan Aronhalt, has a gimpy right knee, and wasn't in the starting lineup.

This was a recipe for a Dane disaster.

Instead, the depleted roster played brave right to the end before bowing to the Catamounts 50-47 in front of 2,811 at SEFCU Arena.

This is the second-fewest points the Danes have scored all season (46 at George Mason on Nov. 22 was the previous low). UAlbany came into this night averaging 73.8 points per game, best in the America East.

An offensive offensive night was perfectly predictable with Suero out and Aronhalt hobbling.

"You see, what? We only scored like 50 points and we were averaging 73," said junior guard Mike Black. "We are a completely different team without G and Logan."

Aronhalt tried to play, but was completely ineffective in the nine minutes he was on the floor in the first half. He missed all three shots he took, and was obviously having problems cutting and moving.

Things didn't get any better when starting forward Luke Devlin went down with 4:53 left in the first half and never returned. Brown fears he might have a dislocated right knee.

The Danes (8-7, 16-13) played the Catamounts tough for the entire game, and, even when they trailed by nine points with 37 seconds left, UAlbany wouldn't go away.

In the last 32 seconds, Jacob Iati, who played a season-high 37 minutes (he was averaging 6.3 a game), hit a pair of 3-pointers and Black, the Danes' leading scorer with 16, converted a four-point play with 27.3 seconds left.

UAlbany still had a chance to get the game to overtime, but Iati missed a 3-pointer from the right corner as the buzzer went off.

"I am proud of my guys," Brown said. "That was supposed to be the best team in the league right now. I had no idea who was going to be able to play and who wasn't going to be able to play. I thought our guys really competed and put us in position to win down the stretch."

Vermont (12-2, 18-10) coach John Becker knew that the Danes were a hurting bunch and his team would not see the same group the Catamounts beat in Burlington, 73-69 on Jan. 19.

"I think sometimes that maybe our guys let down before the game, realizing those guys weren't playing, thinking the game was going to go smoothly," Becker said. "I tried to warn our guys before the game. (Albany) is dangerous, because Mike Black is really good. I was worried about them."

The fact that the Danes played hard and nearly won, was not going to sit well with them.

"We competed hard, but at the end of the day, we lost,'' Black said. "We did pretty good, but the end result was a loss."